FAIRsharing record for: Encoded Archival Description

This FAIRsharing record describes: Encoded Archival Description (EAD) is an XML standard for encoding archival finding aids, maintained by the Technical Subcommittee for Encoded Archival Standards of the Society of American Archivists, in partnership with the Library of Congress. The current version, EAD3, was first released in 2015. EAD reflects the hierarchical structure of archival collections, and allows for describing both the collection as a whole and its individual parts. EAD is an international archival standard and allows for the standardization of information within and across different repositories. EAD is used throughout the United States, Europe, Australia, and other countries. The structural elements of EAD are easily recognized and used in union catalogs like ArchiveGrid and consortiums like the Online Archive of California, Northwest Digital Archives, and Archives Portal Europe. EAD is expressed in XML, which is a structural and preservation format. XML facilitates repurposing of data. A finding aid in XML can be converted into a variety of different formats for display and access to users. An HTML and PDF version of the finding aid can easily be created via the same EAD document. EAD is interoperable with other standards like Encoded Archival Context.